Month: January 2009

I have come across many people who would run for their life when they get to know that they have to sell something in a job. There are numerous others who come to me asking for tips to make money and when I say that they will have to sell something, they raise their hands and say, “I cannot sell”.
This is where a conversation becomes interesting. Once I was with a mentor of mine who was talking to a couple of people, telling them how easy it is to sell something on the internet and make money. He was explaining to them that how salemen were the highest paid people and how selling can help them make good money. As he ended his dialogue, an accountant amongst the them said, “But Mr.Dixit, I cannot sell. I am not good at selling and I do not possess selling skill. It requires convincing power”. Mr.Dixit said a sentence or, two in favor of selling and stopped with an open ended question prompting the accountant to speak on reasons why he felt he cannot sell. The accountant then started off on a “convince him” pitch, trying to convince my mentor of the fact that he cannot sell and the reasons why he cannot, including a detailed description of the skills required to sell something which he apparently did not possess.
After about 2 minutes when he stopped, Mr.Dixit asked him a question, “What is it that you did right now? My friend, what you did is selling. You just sold me an idea that you cannot sell. Wasn’t this selling?”
This is how easy selling is.
An interview is all about selling yourself to the interviewer. Your success will depend upon how well you sell yourself. Just keep a couple of things in mind and you would never face failure in interviews.

Be confident of what you are saying. But at the same time be cautious to not be overconfident. Maintain a normal pace and tone of speech.

Use examples and instances wherever required, to add value to your responses.

Don’t interrupt the interviewer because this shows you are either under-confident or, over-confident.

Don’t just start off immediately as the interviewer finishes his question. Take a few seconds to think and decide on your response. About 3 seconds is an ideal pause before you answer.

Never start your responses with “Okay”.

Be enthusiastic and maintain appropriate posture. If you are sitting in a chair with arms (which you would be) rest your hands on the arms of the chair.

Do not play with your fingers.

Do not tie your arms in front of you if you are sitting in a chair without arms.

Succeeding in an interview does not entirely depend upon the responses that you give. Though there would be questions where the response is of prime importance, I should say that your success has much more to do with the way you have responded to your questions.